
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 23, 1990                   TAG: 9007230202
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: LONDON                                LENGTH: Short

RUSHDIE JOINS CRITICS IN PROTESTING FILM BAN

Salman Rushdie has joined his Moslem critics in opposing a ban on a Pakistani film that depicts him as a murderer, and a Moslem leader said today that his group will demand the ban be lifted.

The British Board of Film Classification has refused to permit distribution of "International Guerrillas," which depicts Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses," as the agent of an international conspiracy.

"The ban clearly shows there is discrimination, double standards and hypocrisy in high places against Moslems," said Sher Azam, president of the Council of Mosques in Bradford.

Rushdie was born into a Moslem family in India and now is a British subject. He has been in hiding under guard since February 1989, when the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran said "The Satanic Verses" blasphemed Islam and that Rushdie deserved to die.

Rushdie believes the film should not be censored, one of his supporters said.

"He feels it should not be decided in advance what the public should or should not see without there being proof that it would cause public disorder," said Frances D'Souza, chairwoman of the Rushdie Defense Committee.

- Associated Press

by CNB